Folsom, Placerville, Granite Bay, Auburn...where to live? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: real estate, condo)

[KillerStephen]

I would say Folsom. EDH is quite pricey. I moved from Dallas to work in EDH and wanted to live in Folsom. It was still a little high so we settled on Fair Oaks, its kinda in between Folsom and Rancho. Folsom is pretty nice though (some parts not so nice of course). As for the prison, you wont even know its there. I like to kayak up the river to the point that theres a sign that says not to go any further.

If you have any specific questions feel free to pm me or ask here, I just dont know how often I will see this particular thread.

[DebbieI]

Hi Steph, my name is Debbie. I have lived in Granite Bay for 6 years and love it. My son attended GB High School and was very happy there. Granite Bay has a park-like setting and is close to plenty of good restaurants and shopping centers.

I worked in Folsom for a while and did not like the commute. It is only about 10 miles but until they finish the Dam Road over Folsom Lake, the congestion is bad. It is slated for completion, I believe, in 2010.

Granite Bay is only four miles to Hwy. 80 and 9 miles to Hwy 50, both heading east and west. From Placerville to Rancho Cordova, your commute would be 32 miles, approximately 33-50 minutes each way. From Granite Bay to Rancho Cordova the trip is 16 miles and would take approximately 22-30 minutes.

The Eureka Unified School District for which we are a part of, has, from what I have heard, great special needs schools. Research the following website to learn more. Eureka Union School District

Folsom would be your shortest drive to Rancho Cordova and Placerville. I believe their schools are good too.

If you need to rent a home while you are looking for a location to settle in, we may be renting our home (3500 sq. ft.) in Granite Bay soon. (We are looking at a smaller home in Granite Bay now that our son is attending college.)

I hope this information was helpful. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Debbiei@surewest.net

Good luck with your search!

Debbie

[Steph77]

I just want to thank everyone who has taken time out to answer me. We definitely have a lot to look into, and everyone's opinions help a LOT!! I would love to hear anything else people have to say...

Is there a lot of road construction going on now?
Does the traffic to Tahoe cause a lot of freeway havoc on weekends? Where I live now, there is a very small window of time that the freeway isn't backed up (weekends or weekdays) and I was curious to see if that was the case on either 50 or 80?

Thanks
Stephanie

[tande1n5]

Originally Posted by Steph77

Is there a lot of road construction going on now?
Does the traffic to Tahoe cause a lot of freeway havoc on weekends? Where I live now, there is a very small window of time that the freeway isn't backed up (weekends or weekdays) and I was curious to see if that was the case on either 50 or 80?

There has been construction on 80 recently, but I think it may be mostly completed. BIG Tahoe weekends, like New Year's, or any other 3 day weekend like MLK day coming up can get the highways to back up pretty well, other than that, the commuter traffic isn't really that terrible considering that you're coming from the Bay Area.

[Baronessa]

My husband and I have lived in Auburn all our lives. It is a beautiful place, but limited in that the city has kept Wal-Mart (and other big businesses) out and we don't have a synagogue. There is limited diversity here. I personally prefer a small town, and avoid going toward Sacramento because Sacramento is much less safe. Rocklin and Roseville are not hard to drive to at all, nor is Folsom. We find it much preferable, if we are going to leave town, to go east to Reno than to get anywhere near or beyond Sacramento westbound. Granite Bay is a very nice and exclusive place. Auburn is expensive enough.

[cw68]

Originally Posted by DebbieI

I worked in Folsom for a while and did not like the commute. It is only about 10 miles but until they finish the Dam Road over Folsom Lake, the congestion is bad. It is slated for completion, I believe, in 2010.

I live in Folsom, so that's my obvious choice. But FYI the bridge project is slated for completion in winter 2008/2009. It's an accelerated timetable project.

[MrsRG]

01/23/09

I too would like area info. My husband's parents are moving to Placerville. My husband wants to be within an hour's drive of Placerville. We are a Caucasian couple in our 40's with no children. We need to rent a condo. I like being close to malls, movie theaters and good restaurants. I'd like to be able to walk to stores, but will settle for driving if I have to. We want a place that is low crime but not so slow and rural that we get bored. My husband wants to be near good fishing and historical museums. I would like an area where we can meet lots of nice married couples because I like to have dinner parties. We will be relocating from the Santa Ana/Cowen Heights/Tustin Foothills area. My husband got laid off and hasn't found work yet. He was a part-time financial planning lecturer for UC Riverside and also worked as a mortgage loan officer. I also got laid off and have not found work yet. I was a document clerk for a mortgage company. I hear that most of the Sacramento area and suburbs get very hot in the summer. I hate the heat , but my husband insists on moving close to his parents. We also need to be within a reasonable commute to work (once we find work), like no more than a half hour drive. We can afford about $1,500 a month and hope to find a three bedroom condo, but will settle for a two bedroom. Where would a good area be for us to look for a condo? We have been thinking of Placerville, Folsom, Roseville, Granite Bay, Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Rocklin, Orangevale, Fair Oaks, Eldorado Hills. Or should we rethink everything and look in the heart of Sacramento in the downtown area? I know that some areas of Sacramento aren't nice. What about the area near the Capitol building or the Riverwalk area? We will be moving sometime within the next six months. Any area info you can provide will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[MrsRG]

It's me again...MrsRG.

Oh by the way...I forgot to ask in my last post which area of Sacramento or the areas around it would best fit our lifestyles? We both are looking for a low crime area and an area not so ethnically diverse as the area we are moving away from (Santa Ana). Since we are in our 40's and have no children, a family-style neighborhood with good schools is not an issue here.

My husband's idea of a perfect place would be living in a rustic log cabin in the forest fishing and hunting and as far away from neighbors as possible.

I'm the complete opposite. I am happy either in a modern condo in the suburbs or in the big city in a modern high rise condo (as long as there is a greenbelt nearby to jog and walk my dog). I enjoy dinner parties, cocktail parties, slow dancing to big band music, fine restaurants, fancy hotels, Broadway musicals, ballet, opera, the symphony, movies, shopping, sidewalk cafes, etc.

Is there a happy medium? An area that would meet both our needs and still be within an hour's drive from Placerville where my husband's parents are moving to and about a half hour commute to work (once we find work)?

Like I said before, we are looking to rent a condo, preferably a three bedroom, but we will settle for a two bedroom. Giving it some thought I think we can afford about $2,000 a month. My original post I said $1,500, but we want a really nice place and we are willing to pay more for a very nice place in a very nice neighborhood.

What areas should we look at?

Thanks for your help!

Originally Posted by MrsRG

01/23/09

I too would like area info. My husband's parents are moving to Placerville. My husband wants to be within an hour's drive of Placerville. We are a Caucasian couple in our 40's with no children. We need to rent a condo. I like being close to malls, movie theaters and good restaurants. I'd like to be able to walk to stores, but will settle for driving if I have to. We want a place that is low crime but not so slow and rural that we get bored. My husband wants to be near good fishing and historical museums. I would like an area where we can meet lots of nice married couples because I like to have dinner parties. We will be relocating from the Santa Ana/Cowen Heights/Tustin Foothills area. My husband got laid off and hasn't found work yet. He was a part-time financial planning lecturer for UC Riverside and also worked as a mortgage loan officer. I also got laid off and have not found work yet. I was a document clerk for a mortgage company. I hear that most of the Sacramento area and suburbs get very hot in the summer. I hate the heat , but my husband insists on moving close to his parents. We also need to be within a reasonable commute to work (once we find work), like no more than a half hour drive. We can afford about $1,500 a month and hope to find a three bedroom condo, but will settle for a two bedroom. Where would a good area be for us to look for a condo? We have been thinking of Placerville, Folsom, Roseville, Granite Bay, Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Rocklin, Orangevale, Fair Oaks, Eldorado Hills. Or should we rethink everything and look in the heart of Sacramento in the downtown area? I know that some areas of Sacramento aren't nice. What about the area near the Capitol building or the Riverwalk area? We will be moving sometime within the next six months. Any area info you can provide will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[ubu]

There is a pretty high density of restaurants in midtown and east Sac. So either of those areas would probably work for you. That area is about as urban as Sacramento gets. The region had plans to build out some high rises condos during the housing boom, but most of those projects didn't get built. The taller office buildings you see downtown are mostly office buildings. You can look around in downtown, but for me the area has too many office building and not enough residential. Its not an area that I would yet want to live in, because after dark there are still too many streets where the ratio of homeless people to normal people still makes me feel a bit uneasy.

I would also look at El Dorado Hills, Roseville, Rocklin, Sierra Oaks, Gold River or Granite Bay. Those areas are home to some of the wealthier suburbs. The nicer restaurants have followed the money out to those areas as well. A lot of those areas are close to both the Lake Natoma and Folsom Lake and some of the safer parts of the American River Bike Trail. Why that matters is because a lot of the fishing on the rivers has been cut back do to efforts to protect some endangered species, so fishing in the lakes tends to give you more options.

Also the parts of the river near downtown have lots of homeless encampments. So if your husband is committed to fishing regularly, I think he is going to end up further upstream away from downtown.

[MrsRG]

Thank you Ubu!

I had no idea about any of that. Thanks for the info! That really helps! I have never been up there before, being a native of Southern California. My husband and I might be taking a short (three day trip) up there within the next couple of weeks to help his parents move so we will get to see the area.

Thanks again for the info!

Mrs. RG

Originally Posted by ubu

There is a pretty high density of restaurants in midtown and east Sac. So either of those areas would probably work for you. That area is about as urban as Sacramento gets. The region had plans to build out some high rises condos during the housing boom, but most of those projects didn't get built. The taller office buildings you see downtown are mostly office buildings. You can look around in downtown, but for me the area has too many office building and not enough residential. Its not an area that I would yet want to live in, because after dark there are still too many streets where the ratio of homeless people to normal people still makes me feel a bit uneasy.

I would also look at El Dorado Hills, Roseville, Rocklin, Sierra Oaks, Gold River or Granite Bay. Those areas are home to some of the wealthier suburbs. The nicer restaurants have followed the money out to those areas as well. A lot of those areas are close to both the Lake Natoma and Folsom Lake and some of the safer parts of the American River Bike Trail. Why that matters is because a lot of the fishing on the rivers has been cut back do to efforts to protect some endangered species, so fishing in the lakes tends to give you more options.

Also the parts of the river near downtown have lots of homeless encampments. So if your husband is committed to fishing regularly, I think he is going to end up further upstream away from downtown.